Dark Souls III - PC THE LAST GREAT EFFORT OF THE SOUL

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Dark Souls III - PC THE LAST GREAT EFFORT OF THE SOUL

After dozens of hours, screams of suffering and joy, we managed to defeat Dark Souls III and we are prepared to face the analysis of what may be the last of his high saga. One that has marked a before and after in the modern video game. Are you ready to die, even for the last time?

Dark Souls III came to us with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the great accumulation of Souls in recent years has put us a little against the ropes. Fact that grew even more with DLCs that, so round and abundant of contents, seemed another chapter. On the other hand, we have a Hidetaka Miyazaki , director of the series (with the exception of Dark Souls 2 ) and to which the own FromSoftware placed the crown of King Midas, ensuring to have some fear by how its users would face a delivery more.

The first shots were rather cold. A beta of stress that gave us all the illusion of facing new challenges, but quite familiar. There was again a dragon on a bridge, an enemy crouched behind a doorway ... And you thought that From itself had made you too expert in your own games to surprise you.

The beginning of Dark Souls III can, and in fact is quite similar to everything described. But his ability to stand up and make the last effort has made us change his mind progressively. After the first locations, this third installment picks up a pulse that no longer releases, tightens us more and more and interweaves a network of progressive difficulty like no previous chapter in the saga.

Let's risk a little more elucubrar: nothing can compete with the impressions that caused us Demon's and the first Dark Souls . They are memories engraved on fire in the memory of every player who enjoyed them. But if we could eliminate the nostalgia, it is possible that Dark Souls III was the most round title of the five games that From has given us. His balance in character builds, his treatment of rhythm and speed, his secretive scenarios, the awesome and challenging final bosses ...

And yet, Dark Souls 3 can not exist without all the previous work. It is very easy to say that "it is more of the same" and in fact it is. But looking back and rejoining Dark Souls I and II after the delivery at hand, we see that the animations that we thought recycled are not so much, that all the "tempo" of the game has been accelerated by accompanying with refined animations and that work like clockwork. The best example that occurs to us to illustrate it is Blizzard and the mastery with which renews its franchises, which makes it seem that time has not passed between Starcraft I and II, but the difference and work between them is deep and Craftsmanship.

But if we also say that Dark Souls III needs your previous releases is because of the amount of tributes that give us many of their scenes. If you are fond of the saga, both your Lore and the memory of your moments in previous games, you will enjoy the amount of tributes that has included the team from FromSoftware that go beyond the wink to touch the pure "fan service ". We do not remember anything so sincere to conclude a saga since what Metal Gear Solid 4 did at the time.

Lothric on examination

Neither Lordran nor Drangleic. Lothric . Where the transient lands of the lords of the ashes converge. An impeccable scenario, full of variety and with a structure worthy of a Miyazaki game. Does this mean that we will see a level design at the height of the first Dark Souls? Not that much. If the first Dark Souls came to connect numerous areas while playing with verticality in a masterful way, the Dark Souls III style is more like the Bloodborne tour . Without abusing both elevators and shortcuts, but offering different roads that branch to different areas.

Perhaps a simpler design that does not need so much shortcut due to the teleportation between bonfires, but that is still more organic and better posed than that of Dark Souls II, by far. Each of its areas is bound to return if we want to get all their secrets or face some enemies that may be somewhat raised difficulty. It will be practically impossible for us to find all their secrets in the first game, and when we talk about secrets we also talk about whole, huge, completely secondary zones.

But if there is something that has surprised us is the amount of traps that make the walk by Lothric completely deadly. Earlier we have stated that any experienced player already knows what to expect from a dragon bridge, from an enemy in the corner ... But some of the traps that have prepared Dark Souls III will make you feel like the first time you played a Souls. And when you feel like this you will have to multiply that feeling, because there are so many that it is impossible to count them all. Ambush ambushes, secret devices ... so many that sometimes we will stumble twice with the same stone during our journey.

If you are fond of the saga you will enjoy the amount of tributes that has included the team from Software, which go beyond the wink to touch the pure fan service

A tour that is in line with other Souls and with a approximate duration much closer, longer than Bloodborne supposed. Everything will depend of course on the way we play, but if you want to explore every corner, hit each wall (because illusory walls return to the sword), read each description of object and make numbers with the attack of your weapon and the weight of Your armor, you will have between 35 and 55 hours in your first game if you are already experienced in the Souls. A more than correct duration considering that it is more accessible in the tasks of level up and improvement of equipment , having everything centralized in the Sanctuary of the Link of Fire , our nexus with all the characters close to each other,

The difficulty , as we said before, has been quite scalable. The first zones do not pose an excessive challenge, unless you are starting from scratch with a class that you are inexperienced, but quickly begins to increase to reach some areas with a fairly serious challenge, especially given the surprises that we There are some enemies and the way they have to develop.

Fighting light and darkness

It is in the combat where more changes will see in the adventure. Every small change in the system that Souls use is very noticeable from one delivery to another. The most known is that this is the Souls faster. In general, the speed has accelerated enough, creating fighting more dynamic and alive, but without at any time in the style of Bloodborne. This increase in speed makes it necessary to balance all the weapons and the style of the confrontations, so we have seen a large improvement of the swords and light equipment with respect to the heavy builds that prevailed in previous deliveries.

Perhaps the most significant changes come in armors. What we have already discovered in the preview has been confirmed: you can not upload the sets to titanite base or any other way. But what we saw before as something negative has ended up being a pleasant surprise. Thanks to the fact that it is not necessary to raise the armor level, there is more opportunity to alternate between them for convenience and to focus different strategies for some bosses or some areas, besides appreciating the variety aesthetically. Some of the designs of the new armor are beautiful and, of course, there will be classics and others that will make you discover a smile of happiness.

The melee weapons , however, have not convinced us. Not because of their catalog, but because of the few opportunities they have to change between them. There are hardly any differences between some of them and seem to have been somewhat reduced compared to the large collection that had Dark Souls 2, which eliminates for example some unique or a complete set as the twin swords. There are epic weapons from the beginning, created by the transposition and the souls of defeated bosses, much as we had in Dark Souls II with Ornifex; But the problem is that to improve them we need Scale of Titanite and until the end of the game we will not find enough to improve them well,

It shows a better balance between all the types of character that can create the player

In general, we have found a better balance between all the types of character you can create. The predominance of the heavy armor and the ultra espadones seems to have been diminished by the need to move more slightly according to the speed of the game, reason why in many occasions we will find that the damage per second is more rewarded than the slow and strong, that leaves Too sold. Many of the enemies and bosses force us to dominate the art of dodge above that of protecting behind the shield. And although it remains an important and very effective piece, both the path of dexterity and agility as that of magic have nothing to envy the heavy classes.